The leaders of France, Lebanon and Jordan on Thursday met in Paris to discuss international support for the cash-strapped Lebanese army and the creation of a new force to succeed a longstanding UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and King Abdullah II of Jordan.
They were joined by chiefs of defence staff from Lebanon, Jordan, France, Britain and Italy, as well as top US and Saudi officials, a French military source said.
The talks come as the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) ends this year after almost half a century of operations dating back to the Israeli invasion of 1978.
Last year, the UN Security Council, under US pressure, decided to end UNIFIL’s mandate on December 31, 2026.
France and Italy have said they want to set up a multinational coalition to succeed UNIFIL.
Lebanon will be one of key issues on the agenda as world leaders gather for the UN General Assembly in New York next week.
“The aim for the participants is to jointly assess what the Lebanese armed forces need,” the French military source said, referring to the Paris talks.
“The goal is to find realistic and effective solutions.”
Aoun told AFP this week that Lebanon wanted a new force, European or otherwise, to prevent a security vacuum after the UN peacekeepers leave south Lebanon.
During bilateral talks earlier Thursday, Macron and Aoun discussed “progress in drafting proposals for the Security Council regarding the future of the international presence in southern Lebanon,” the Lebanese presidency said.
The two leaders also discussed Israeli attacks against Lebanese villages and towns and efforts to halt them, the presidency added.
The French presidency said the aim of the Paris talks was to review a Lebanese armed forces deployment plan based on a “clear, credible and realistic” framework.
The Lebanese president has called on Europeans, Americans and Arab nations to support the Lebanese army.
UNIFIL, which must end by the end of the year, has just under 7,500 peacekeepers from 46 countries.
On Thursday, Aoun also stressed the importance of organising a conference on the reconstruction of Lebanon, which Macron had hoped to hold alongside the conference aimed at supporting the Lebanese armed forces.
